Software Review: Roxio Toast 9 Titanium

Software Review: Roxio Toast 9 Titanium

Published August 25, 2008 at 01:16:16 PM, by Thai Tan

Overview:

Pros:

• Improved interface
• Streaming video support
• Ability to record audio from Internet
• BD/HD support

Cons:

• BD/HD support costs extra

Bottom Line:

Toast 9 includes everything you'll need to transfer and enjoy your audio and video media in almost any format.

Specs:
Formats supported:
Audio: AAC, AIFF, MP3, WAV, M4A, OGG, FLAC, and Dolby Digital AC-3
Video: AVCHD, AVI, DV, MOV, MPEG-1/2/4, DivX, XviD, VOB, VIDEO_TS folder, iMovie projects, EyeTV recordings and TiVoToGo transfers
Photo: BMP, GIF, PDF, PSD, PNG, TIFF
Images: ISO, BIN/CUE, IMG, DMG, CDR, NRG

Requirements
Macintosh computer with a PowerPC G4, PowerPC G5, or Intel processor. PowerPC G5 or Intel processor required for encoding and viewing high definition content
CD, DVD, Blu-ray, or HD DVD recordable drive
Mac OS X v10.4.x and Mac OS X v10.5.x
600 MB of free disk space to install
Up to 15 GB of temporary free disk space during usage
Additional space may be required when working with high definition content
QuickTime 7.x
Internet connection required for some functionality

Overview

Roxio's Toast has been the standard for burning software on the Mac and the latest Toast has added optional support for burning Blu-ray and HD DVDs (NOTE: Support for BD/HD requires purchase of an additional plug-in). Previous users of Toast will not only enjoy the new interface, but also the new media features that have been added.

What's New
With Toast 9, Roxio has introduced new media features that help burn, watch, listen, and share media anywhere. The drag and drop 'Toast Way' still remains the same as in previous versions, but now the interface includes easy-to-understand category tabs to select which media you want to burn.

To further help burning media, a Convert category has been introduced to simplify audio and video. Amongst the usual media formats, Toast 9 also includes support for Blu-ray, HD DVD, TiVoToGo and EyeTV as well as compatibility with AVCHD camcorders. Some other new notable features include Streamer, which allows for streaming of video over the Internet; streaming audio capture to record from any audio source, including the Internet; Audio fingerprinting to help fill in audio track information using a unique technique; Pausing and Resuming function during encoding; and also a Leopard only feature called Video Quality preview, which allows video quality to previewed before encoding.

Performance

Previous users of Toast won't be surprised by the easy interface that is reflected in all of the new features. Right away, users will notice the new category interface that helps select which media to burn. New this year is context tool tips under each tab that help make choosing the right media easier.

Aside from the typical Data, Video, Audio and Copy functions, a Convert tab was added to make converting to different formats easier. Simply select the source media and either drag and drop or select the files to convert. Once all the media's loaded, hit the big red button to Record.

The new Streamer feature allows video to be streamed to a WiFi-connected iPhone or iPod touch. The setup of Streamer was easy and required a few short steps and then it's ready to go. After setup, launching Streamer was as simple as accessing a URL and entering in login information from the initial setup. Streaming quality varied based on Internet connection of course, but the quality was decent on a broadband home connection. (NOTE: Streamer will not work behind a corporate firewall)

The new finger printing technology was a hit or miss, but more of a hit. It samples recorded audio using the CD Spin Doctor and then tries to identify the title, artist, album, etc. For the most part, Toast was able to identify popular tracks, but for non-English tracks it missed.

Conclusion

Roxio has stepped up and added some great new features to its already award-winning Toast product line. This year adds some new ways to share media and also new ways to burn the latest media. With additional support for HD video, Toast 9 is once again the best burning solution for Mac users.